Client Case Study: Long-lasting relationships

Sue’s been in this game a long time, and her focus is on providing candidates and clients with a reliable partner in their recruitment journeys. She talks through one of her success stories.

I started working with Mark 5 years ago when he approached me as a candidate looking for a new role. We arranged to meet for a coffee – phone calls are all well and good (I’m never off mine, ask any of my colleagues), but nothing compares to meeting you in person. It gives you a real feel for the person and means they’re usually a little more at ease. We met, talked through his qualifications and experience and discussed at length the reasons for his search and, most importantly, what were the key things he wanted from his next move.

Mark was already engaged with a couple of other recruiters, and shortly after we’d met, he was placed into a new role through another agency. We stayed in touch, and a few months later he approached me to meet with him and his Finance Director, with a view to Sewell Wallis assisting with their recruitment; they were hiring within their HR and their finance team. Unfortunately, the business he’d joined was one we’d chosen not to work with previously; this was due to their reputation in market and their staff turnover. We did meet with them to ascertain if this had changed, but by the time we met, it was pretty apparent that they were both actually looking to discuss potential opportunities. Our instincts about the business had been right and both mark and his FD were keen to move on.

Mark joined another business through a personal contact of his, and he blossomed in his new role. We kept the lines of communication open, and Sewell Wallis assisted him with salary benchmarking for the finance, marketing and HR team. We also came on board when, due to a company reshuffle, the business was unfortunately making redundancies – we helped a number of the leavers look for new roles.

At the end of 2023 Mark unfortunately found out that he was also in line for redundancy and again, we met for a coffee to discuss his options. My network of HR professionals and contacts in the region is vast, and I therefore committed to proactively approaching the market on his behalf. Together we once again revisited the ‘must haves’ in his next role, and I approached contacts who I felt would be a great match for Mark. This is where the Sewell Wallis approach really sings – our networks are so wide-reaching that we can make the right introductions to the right people.

I was delighted that in the space of a couple of a weeks, we had secured interviews for Mark at a brilliant Leeds based business who, following several acquisitions, were looking for a Group Head of HR. Mark went through a tough but clear selection process and secured a new role starting in January 2024.

Further proof of the benefit of long-standing relationships came when two months in to his new role, he once again approached me to partner with him on the recruitment of 3 new team members within HR. Knowing Mark so well made such a huge difference; I knew exactly who would work well with him but also had the reassurance that he was a great person to work with, a good manager and would offer career development and long term prospects to the new team members.

I am delighted to say that we have now secured all three team members and they are all over the moon with their new roles. We really do want to ensure the people we work with stick around for the long term, and I hope testimonials like this one speak to our method.